With his friends reinforcing him, Leo felt energy surge back into his body. Warmth flooded through him as Ed and Matilda poured healing into his wounds. Two healers. The best tank in the tutorial. A wall of damage dealers.

This Queen was as good as dead.

They just had to make sure they all lived to see it.

They fell into formation as the Queen unleashed waves of attacks in steady intervals.

Between each wave, Leo drove himself forward, striking with everything he had. The barrier she formed seemed to regenerate while she was attacking, which to him, felt completely unfair.

They were whittling it down, but so were the resources of all the fighters. It became a battle of attrition. One wrong move meant death—or damage bad enough to force a heal or burn a really important defensive cooldown.

Suddenly, the Queen didn’t unleash an earthen attack against them, and the fighters took it as a chance to pounce. Leo felt no danger from her—and that was all the opening he needed. Wyrmstep dragged him in, his strike landing in perfect tandem with his companion. His flame-coated fist struck first, a wave of heat following. He tore it back and drove Spiral Break straight into the barrier.

A screech erupted, louder than anything Leo had ever heard, tearing across the room and the entire city. A wave of fear and dread filled the hearts of all the fighters. Even Cain froze, locked in place by the sudden terror.

Leo glanced around. Unaffected.

The Queen started building up for another attack, earthen waves rumbling underneath. Leo flared his Stormforged Presence skill, enveloping his allies with the power of his aura. The fear shattered instantly like a spell being broken, his allies able to breathe again.

Cain roared in outrage, summoning his panthers to his side as his body was coated in fur. It was clear that they needed to end this before she pulled out any more sneaky tricks.

“Leo, get back!” Ashley called and Leo grabbed Ellie and dashed back.

“Luminarmy!”

White light twisted into soldiers, fully armed on horseback as they slammed into the Queen’s barrier. Each attack against the barrier seemed to affect it more than any other attack so far. Whether it was the strength of Ashley’s skill or something tied to her class, Leo didn’t know.

It didn’t matter. It was incredibly effective.

A renewed surge of resolve and vigor inspired his allies under the power of his aura while he kept it flared. It also slowed down the Queen as she hesitated under the pressure of the storm within him.

The power of his aura wouldn’t last for long, however, especially considering how it tapped into a little of his storm to use. Each second the storm within pushed closer to breaking free—and if it did, it wouldn’t just be him that paid the price.

“Ells!” Leo called and the little dragon was by his side in a quick flap of her wings.

She formed into full Draconic Equip, coating Leo’s arms and legs. Stamina burned as fast as the skill could take it, his strength surging through Fuel the Fire.

The Queen hesitated for a moment under the strain of his aura, and Leo took this opportunity to tear into the shield with his new skill.

He felt the power course through his body and into his hands. The first ten punches hammered into the shield in a relentless rhythm. Each strike snapped into the next without pause. After the tenth punch, Leo felt the strain start to build.

Lightning Stance, Fuel the Fire, Iron Repetition, and now Barrage. Every skill was active at once. The strain was immediate. It was heavy.

He didn’t stop. He couldn’t—not now. The pressure had to keep building.

Cracks began to spread.

There it is.

Like a drum being relentlessly battered, the shield took hit after hit from Leo’s Barrage. He screamed a roar as the barrier quaked. His stamina was vanishing at an incredibly fast rate. But his Elementum was increasing insanely fast, just as he had hoped when thinking about Flicker Jabs.

After the twenty-seventh punch, Leo was done.

So was the barrier.

It cracked into pieces under the combined assault of the Luminarmy and barrage of punches.

The Queen squealed in outrage as Leo unleashed a Scarlet Impact directly on the Queen’s—now exposed—head. Fire exploded, searing the chitin of the monster. A flicker of danger flashed through him—he backed off instantly.

He let his aura drop, let his Equip drop, and stopped using Fuel the Fire.

Panting with exhaustion, he tapped into Second Wind, instantly rejuvenating his stamina enough to keep going. It hit like adrenaline straight into his veins. Inhaling sharply and deeply, he felt awake again.

Cecelia approached, looking a little rough herself. The Queen was thrashing around wildly as fire spread across her face. Ruby and Ron continued assaulting her with ranged attacks, but a lot of them were swatted out of the air with her legs or mandibles, causing little effect.

It was odd. She wasn’t attacking, just flailing wildly.

“What’s happening?” he asked aloud.

Cecelia panted. “I don’t know.”

“Changing,” Cain said, appearing beside them.

“Changing into what?” Cecelia questioned.

He shook his head. “Kill. Now.”

“Time for me to make a move then,” Cecelia said, standing tall.

Excitement sparked in Leo’s chest. No one had seen Cecelia’s signature skill as apparently it had a long cooldown, and left her very exposed afterwards.

“Are you using it?” he asked, smiling widely. It might not have been the time, but he loved seeing new skills in action.

She nodded. “I need you to buy me some time.”

“Seems like we have enough time if she keeps—” Leo was cut off as a wet ripping sound tore through the chamber.

The screech that followed was ear-wrenching, filled with rage and anger. The aura of the queen flared—not to instill fear.

To announce intent.

Her entire lower half, which was once a thick, immovable egg-sac, was now replaced with a thin, white thorax. Green ichor dripped from the segment she had detached herself from. She’d torn herself free from her lower half, destroying her ability to replenish the hive for her own survival.

The ground rumbled. The walls quaked. Earthen armour started forming over the already thick chitin of the Queen, but it shifted constantly, like living sand.

Cain grasped the back of Ruby’s robe as she finished casting a spell. Just as she was about to shriek in annoyance, a lance of thin sand appeared where her head once was.

Her eyes widened in alarm.

Holy shit, that’s quick.

“How much longer?” Leo asked.

“I’ll be ready. Get me an opening,” she said, eyes staring directly ahead. They glinted with pale moonlight, her hair shimmered in the purple mosslight, lines of silver drifting through it. Her focus was what really impressed him, it was something else entirely.

Come on, Ells. Let’s go be a menace.

She popped out and dashed at the new form of the Queen. She was staring them down, swaying side to side like a cobra ready to pounce. Sand dripped from her body, forming into thin snakes that quickly dove back into the coating of her body.

Leo joined the small dragon and Cain, sprinting directly for the Queen. She moved as Cain appeared above her head, dodging like a gust blowing sand. Leo and Ellie Wyrmstepped to her new location, fist coated in lightning and claws outstretched

Sand poured towards them like a breaking wave. Ellie roared, loud and domineering. The sand in front of her acted like a puppet with its strings cut, collapsing into lifeless sand that they crashed straight through without as much as a scratch.

The Queen recoiled, momentarily startled as the living sand armour coating her body started falling away from her.

“Cece!” Leo called, pulling his hands together directly in front of the Queen.

*Clap*

The concussive crack reverberated through the chamber. The Queen stumbled.

~

Cecelia watched carefully—the way the Queen moved, the way she reacted to attacks. It all had a pattern. One that she would take advantage of. Ron and Ruby were nearby, constantly hitting her with ranged attacks. Ashley was controlling what little time she had left of her luminous army.

Edward and Matilda were regaining mana while they could. And Bjorn was keeping them safe.

Everyone had their job, including Leo and Cain. She watched them with envy. Unable to match their speed, their power, their reactions. What kind of monster did you have to be to stand among them? She wasn’t sure.

No matter how desperate she got, she didn’t know how to join them. Hadn’t had a way before.

But now…

Silver light danced across her body, forming like living tattoos along her skin. She couldn’t see more than a wisp of it in her vision, but her hair started changing too. From a hazel brown to a white silver.

Her sword lit up with pale moonlight in a way it hadn’t before. More than when she used her parry or Silent Moon.

Her signature skill waited on her words.

She just had to speak them.

“Cece!” She heard her name. Followed by a clap loud enough to cause her to wince.

It was time.

“Dance of the Twin Moons.”

She gasped as power crashed into her all at once. The long blade, wielded by two hands, suddenly broke into two one handed swords. They were coated in bright white moonlight.

The moonlight clad maiden moved at speeds she only thought possible by Leo. Barely touching the ground, it was as if she was gliding. She’d used the skill once before, so she knew how different her speed and power was, but it still required tremendous effort to stay in control.

For some reason, even though she split her sword into two, it still felt as if it was an extension of her own hand. All of her bonuses from Two-handed weapon mastery, and her skills, affected the twin blades she wielded now.

She arrived at the Queen as she started regaining her wits. Whatever power the young dragon was using was still affecting the Queen’s living armour. But that didn’t stop her swiping out with sharp mandibles.

A smirk tugged at Cecelia’s lips as one of her swords touched the edge of the Queen’s mandibles. Perfect Parry activated, moving the monster’s head aside as she swung down with her enhanced off hand blade. She could parry with one sword, and enhance the other with the improved strike. The sword was still one.

The blade sliced into the eye of the Queen, causing her to retreat backwards. Cecelia didn’t stop, unleashing a crescendo of slashes that the Queen struggled to dodge. The swordswoman’s eyes were unblinking, even when the Queen unleashed an attack of flowing earth spikes.

She simply parried them. Then advanced.

A spike of earth approached her from behind, but she didn’t move to stop it. For one simple reason.

She was not alone in this fight.

*Crash*

A sparking red fist shattered the incoming stone into rubble behind her. The sweltering heat passed across her skin. She crouched in mid air, pulling her feet behind her.

“Alley-oop!” Leo said from behind, pushing his feet into hers. Always the performer.

She rocketed forward after the retreating form of the Queen. As she did, three claw-like blades ripped into her newly forming living armour, forcing her to expend a lot of the sand to defend.

The Queen noticed her approach, tiny earthen fragments shot at Cecelia with reckless aim. She was lifted above them in a flash of movement, claws grasping her armour as a small figure carried her from above.

Released at the dragon’s apex of flight, Cecelia looked down at the Queen. Her skill still had a little more duration to it. But she needed speed. If Ellie had taken her to the roof, she could have kicked off it but she was a little short.

Her eyes met Ashley’s below, and the woman seemed to realise her intention. This was a move they’d done in the dungeon and used in training. The blonde woman’s hand rose and a wall of light appeared behind Cecelia.

A smile graced her lips as she pushed off yet another thing while in mid air. The Queen looked up at her, but a roar from a certain individual down on the ground suddenly arrested the Queen’s attention.

Cecelia used that moment to strike.

“Silent Moon.”

Her voice was barely more than a whisper in contrast to the chaos around her and the air flying past. The twin blades were coated in a faint sheen of hazy moonlight that drifted off them like smoke.

The attack hit with brutal, yet elegant force.

As if the living armour was nothing more than a film of dust, her swords cut into the thick middle section of the Queen’s body. Cecelia’s feet hit the ground hard, swords shaking in her arms as the impact rattled her. Green ichor spurted through the sand as the Queen wailed.

Her breath came in short bursts as her Dance of the Twin Moons was coming to an end.

But what was a dance without a spectacular finish?

Her blades came up in a cross in front of her torso. As soon as the blades touched, a small moon formed in the space above the crossing point. It grew until it was around the size of a basketball, all in the span of a second.

Cecelia slashed the blades across it in two quick sweeps, consuming the light that coated them and turning them back into the two handed blade. Her hair began turning back to brown as her sword rose above her head.

Then she swung.

The enemy was almost entirely bisected by the rushing wave of silver light that carried into the wall behind her. An entire section of the Queen was gone.

Cecelia’s consciousness began to fade, collapsing onto one knee.

Not quite enough yet.

The Queen, screeching and bleeding heavily, started forming a last ditch effort to cut Cecelia apart in the shape of two sand-like blades. Almost like being cut apart by the same attack she just threw. She would have thought it poetic if not for her imminent doom.

But, unlike the Queen, and already demonstrated.

She had allies.

The blades of sand hit a golden barrier that surrounded her, sending her flying backwards where she was caught by a black haired young man.

“Well done,” he said firmly.

Cecelia let herself rest in his arms. For the first time in a long time, that feeling of overwhelming, ceaseless inferiority began to fade, just a little.